


Crimson

by Gemini_00



Series: Batfamily Shorts [44]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Bat Family, Bat Family Feels, Batfamily, Big Brother Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne Needs a Hug, Child Loss, Emotional Hurt, Gun Violence, Hospitalization, Hurt Bruce Wayne, Hurt Dick Grayson, Other, Parent Bruce Wayne
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 17:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18480532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gemini_00/pseuds/Gemini_00
Summary: ... Dick Grayson had been shot...(Bat Family Bing: Blood Stained Clothing)





	Crimson

**Author's Note:**

> Spot the fic reference in comments and I'll write a fic of your choosing :)

Bruce always hated the hospital. Ever since he was a kid. When he broke his first bone. When Alfred fell down the stairs. When Dick decided to climb up a chandelier at eight and break his right leg and arm when he fell down and Alfred wasn’t quick enough to catch him. When Jason broke his nose because of some school yard fight. When Cassandra attempted eyeliner without the help of her friend or ‘step mother’ and nearly poked her eye out. When Tim decided to stay out in the cold too long despite not having a freaking spleen. When Damian’s little body was burned from canned soup because he wasn’t big enough to reach the knob on the stove without hitting the ladle and having it pour onto him. When Duke got a concussion for listening to his foster brother daring him to try and ride a mattress down the stairs.

 

He hadn’t been covered in this much blood out of the cape since- since that day all of those years ago. 

 

_ Mommy… Daddy… Wake up please… _

 

_ Dick… Don’t you dare close your fucking eyes… Come on, chum… _

 

A gang inition with some twenty year old kid that didn’t know how to point a gun. A nice stroll with Bruce’s eldest runed bloody because of a faulty gun… Because Bruce froze in time and wasn’t quick enough to unarm the man… not quick enough to jump in the way or shove Dick out…

 

_ Bru-Dad…  _

 

_ Stay with me son… Come on baby… _

 

His hands were drenched with blood. Dick’s blood. So fucking much blood. Blood that was now on his butler- no, father- and his girlfriend- no, his wife- as they pulled him back from the doors that the doctors raced to the Emergency Room for surgery  _ as Dick’s weak heart rate went flat and they began use a defibrillator. _

 

Outside, Bruce can hear the cameras flashing and sirens running. The paps want a picture. But inside, the Wayne family sits in pure silence. 

 

At first Barbara screamed at the world from her chair, screamed at Bruce until she broke against his chest. Maybe she didn’t mean it. Maybe she did. What difference did it make? Weren’t parents supposed to protect their children?

 

Dinah is with her now, along with the Huntress who last time Bruce checked, did not like Dick very much. Tim is passed out on Stephanie with tears coming down her own face as his daughter sits next to her silently grabbing each others hands fiercely. Tiny Damian is trapped in Jason’s embrace after his youngest let out all his fear an anxiety by screaming at the nurse to tell them what the hell was going on in that operating room, when Bruce couldn’t man up and comfort the baby of the family Jason did it for him.

 

_ Didn’t they die too? _ A voice in his head asked him.  _ Who had more blood come out of them, Dick or Damian? _

 

Bruce stared around the room again where more and more faces crowded the room. A quiet Clark Kent glancing at Bruce with worry. Harper and Duke nervously playing with their hands. Wally West and Artemis sitting against a wall with faces so pale that it didn’t seem right. Donna Troy’s jacket laid in one seat while she found a chapel to pray with Diana. Roy Harper held his own baby close as his best friend refused to put down his youngest brother. Amy, Dick’s partner in the BPD offers coffee for everyone. Helena  _ Wayne  _ from Earth 2 sits with a watch that her Dick Grayson gave her. Kori Anders looks far paler than her orange skin should. Kate Kane was outside screaming at the paparazzi to ‘go the fuck away’.

 

“I need a walk,” Bruce told Selina who sat next to him attempt to offer comfort for a man who refused.  

 

“You can’t leave,” she said. What she meant was  _ you can’t be Batman right now. _

 

_ That’s what you want, right? To go find that criminal that killed Dick (your parents) and beat them to death? _

 

But Bruce can’t because that dumb kid turned himself in two hours ago. That dumb kid wasn’t a killer, atleast he didn’t want to be… That’s what Dick would say.

 

But Dick wasn’t here to say it. Dick was fighting for his life on some operating table with Gotham’s best at his side while Bruce sat out here doing  _ nothing  _ for his family. 

 

“I won’t,” Bruce promised. An empty one. One spook and Bruce is off fighting crime.

 

He gets up to leave when a tiny mousy voice says, “Family for Richard Grayson.”

 

If the nurse was startled by half of the room standing up then she doesn’t show it, “He’s stable now. But weak, we want to keep him here for-”

 

“He’s alive?” and if anyone noticed how fast Wally West came to her side then no one is surprised. _ He’s my best friend, Bruce… Give him a chance. _

 

“We nearly lost him three times, but he’s a fighter,” The nurse answered, “He also seems to be quite energetic for someone who should be knocked out and resting… He wants to see you Mr. Wayne.”

 

The whole room stares at the man covered in blood. His child’s blood. His child who nearly died because Bruce couldn’t shake the feeling of being some weak eight year old kid. Bruce who’s white armani is forever dyed red. He smells of that metallic copper blood that stenches the street of Gotham whenever ZSASZ or the Joker breaks out. When he walks in his shoes he can feel the slish slosh that fills with blood.

 

Bruce can’t face him. Not like this. He stares at his hands that look more and more like the hands of a serial killer everytime he sees it. His father’s watches looks like it did when it rested on his own wrist while he and his wife bled out.

 

“I’m a mess,” he said hopelessly. Two tiny hands grab his own. He is shocked to find that they aren’t the nimble fingers of Alfred or Selina’s sticky hands with a diamond ring. Nor do they match any of his childrens. He meets the eyes of the nurse who looks tired and strung out on a Friday night in Gotham where the hospital is always busy and buzzing with death.

 

“Sir, I don’t think he cares,” She told him politely before guiding him through those doors leaving behind all those who he holds dear in favor for the one who needs him most. The operating room is quiet with the sound of Dick’s steady heart monitor going. Oxygen mask around his face with that weak yet genuine Dick Grayson smile.

 

“Hey dad,” Dick spoke softly. The young man won’t even remember if Bruce leaves right now. But the haunted man stays in place even when the nurse leaves. He sits by the bed of his partner and clenches the hand.

 

“Hello chum.” 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I love Dick Grayson, I just have a hard time writing him so enjoy Bruce brooding about how much he loves that acrobat!


End file.
